Reviews

Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

kyra_c_c's review against another edition

4.0

I listened to this via the Phoebe Reads A Mystery podcast where Phoebe Judge from the AMAZING podcast Criminal reads...a mystery! Highly recommend (as long as you can put up with her mispronunciation of English and French places, which I find adorable).

This story is WILD. It was impossible to guess what was going to happen and I really enjoyed the seemingly random twists and turns. My favourite bit was probably when Poirot called someone a "triple idiot" - I'm going to use that one. I found it more convoluted and dramatic than The Affair At Styles - which I also listened to on Phoebe Reads A Mystery - but I enjoyed Poirot's intellectual battle with the other French detective. Also, Hastings is a fool. Ever was it thus.

ommageden's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

firyal15ichigo's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

jacobclark's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

lara_aadelis's review against another edition

funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A well crafted mystery with several twists and turns, I would highly recommend this book if you’d like to read something by Agatha Christie that has not been wildly popularized already.

The crime is nicely set-up, has several twists- and the dialogue has a hilarious dry humor at times. Also, as with the last time, I am always suprised how romantic these books turn out.

Though, a bit of a warning: One will notice this book has been written in the 1920s with things like a hereditary disposition to crime being discussed as well as benevolent sexist comments appearing frequently (though the latter I felt was more of a character choice for the narrator). 

delaneyre's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i_dil's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

nevermindnt's review against another edition

4.0

Reading the second half during one reading session felt like being punched several times in a row without ever being able to predict that another punch is coming

broken_shady's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

marymayne's review against another edition

4.0

My mission to read the Poirot series is off to a fantastic start! I really enjoyed this one for Poirots' personality more so than the mystery, which I found to be slightly convoluted with a few too many twists at the end. I felt like the first 100 pages were well paced. The next 50 really sped up as the plot unfolded, then the last 50 pages there were so many plot twists that they were 2 to a page at some points.

It's both olden-timey charming and also horrific the way every time an upper-class woman commits a brutal crime she cries and pleads passion in court and just...gets away with it lol. The whole idea of Bella's defence (pre Marthe twist) being 'I know I stabbed him but the intent wasn't to kill him (even though I stabbed him in the back with a knife), I just wanted to maim my ex-bf and didn't realise it was actually his dad that I stabbed, oopsies!!' And poirot is like 'rock solid defence she's got there - no WAY they would convict a pretty girl with that strong an excuse!!!'

Highlights include:
• The Georges Conneau reveal ~ I fully gasped
• I laughed out loud at Hastings "restraining" Poirot
• Mme Renauld falls and hits her head really hard - immediately the doctor's like 'she'll not wake up for a week but she'll be absolutely fine after that' .............and he was right!!!!!
• Further to my last point - 'he's in shock from such bad news, someone sit with him to prevent brain fever' ???????
• Never thought I'd see an Acrobat Ex Machina but here we are!!!!